The United States consulate in Cape Town will be the first in a South African city to implement a new visa security measure designed to better track visitors to the US.
The visa office of the US consulate general in Cape Town will begin collecting biometric identifiers or fingerprints for all visa applicants between the ages of 14 and 79 from January 12.
This, along with a photograph of the applicant, will verify the traveller’s identity upon arrival in the US, the consulate said in a statement issued on Monday. The procedure, part of the new ‘US-Visit’ programme, is designed to enhance the security of American citizens and visitors, expedite legitimate travel and trade and ensure the integrity of the immigration system.
The new ”fingerscan” — which took a digital scan of the right and left index fingers — was fully digitised and only added seconds to the immigration process.
According to consulate assistant public affairs officer, Daniel Claffey, the biometric data collected from visa applicants would be stored as part of the visitor’s travel record and would only be available to authorised officials and selected US law enforcement agencies.
He said he did not believe that the new system constituted an invasion of the applicant’s privacy, saying it had been mandated by the US Congress.
”A lot of legislation has been passed since September 11 (when terrorist-commandeered planes struck buildings in the USA) … we wanted to tighten up our security,” said Claffey.
Asked how safe the new system was, for example, from computer manipulation by cyber criminals, Claffey said the system was designed to combat criminals who were getting smarter.
”For example people used to commit photo-substitution of identity photos … (but) now hidden in the barcode would be digital information of fingerprints, and that’s going to be pretty hard to beat,” said Claffey.
Asked if the post-September 11 security measures could negatively affect the American economy by causing less people to visit that country, Claffey said he did not believe that the number of professionals or students visiting or applying for work or study visas would drop dramatically.
The new fingerscan would first be implemented in Cape Town, with other US visa-issuing offices in Johannesburg and Durban beginning to collect fingerprints later in this year.
Additonal information about the US-Visit programme could be found on the Department of Homeland Security’s website: www.dhs.gov/us-visit. – Sapa